IT GETS BETTER:

The classified intelligence that President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian officials at the White House was provided by Israel, according to a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information. The revelation adds a potential diplomatic complication to the episode.

Israel is one of the United States' most important allies and a major intelligence collector in the Middle East. The revelation that Mr. Trump boasted about some of Israel's most sensitive information to the Russians could damage the relationship between the two countries. It also raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia's close ally and Israel's main threat in the Middle East.

"We have an arrangement with America which is unique to the world of intelligence sharing. We do not have this relationship with any other country," said the officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity as he was not granted permission to speak to the press.

"There is a special understanding of security cooperation between our countries," they said. "To know that this intelligence is shared with others, without our prior knowledge? That is, for us, our worst fears confirmed." [...]

A second intelligence officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed News via encrypted app and also spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the US regarding an active threat to US-bound planes. Speaking to BuzzFeed News via a military base in northern Israel, he said Israeli intelligence officers were "boiling mad and demanding answers" as to whether Israel's military would continue its current intelligence-sharing agreement with the US.

The Israeli intel that Trump gifted to Russia was so sensitive that US hadn't even shared it w "5 Eyes" (🇬🇧🇳🇿🇦🇺🇨🇦) https://t.co/yRkNRi4IeM

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) May 16, 2017

Tweet   @brothersjudd